Extinct gibbon earliest known ape to vanish after the last Ice Age

A partial skull and jawbone excavated from the 2,300-year-old tomb of a Chinese noblewoman belonged to an unknown but now extinct gibbon.

Bogong moths use the Earth's magnetic field to get their bearings on long distance migrations

Bogong moths are the first nocturnal insects discovered to use the Earth's magnetic field in long-distance migration.

Three newly formed planets detected around a faraway star for the very first time

One of the world's biggest radio telescopes has detected the first ever newborn planets, still enveloped in the swirling disc of gas and dust that made them.

Supermassive black hole rips star apart

For the first time, astronomers have captured images of a jet of radio waves blasted into space when a star was ripped apart by a supermassive black hole.

Mars Curiosity rover detects seasonal changes in methane levels

The latest data shows huge swings in the level of methane in the atmosphere as the seasons change, and new types of organic molecules capable of preserving life just beneath its surface.

Mars rover finds organic matter in ancient lake bed

NASA’s veteran Curiosity rover has found complex organic matter buried and preserved in ancient sediments that formed a vast lake bed on Mars more than 3 billion years ago.

The discovery is the most compelling evidence yet that long before the planet became the parched world it is today, Martian lakes were a rich soup of carbon-based compounds that are necessary for life, at least as we know it.

Pluto's dunes made of frozen methane

The icy world has dunes, but unlike Earth's sandy versions, Pluto's seem to be composed of flecks of methane ice.

New map of Alaska’s ancient coast supports theory that America’s first people arrived by boat

New research supports an early sea arrival, by way of the Pacific coast. By dating rocks and animal bones, scientists conclude that the coast of southeastern Alaska was largely ice-free and full of plant and animal life some 17,000 years ago—a welcoming environment for people venturing south into a new world.